A few days ago, Apple surprised everyone by releasing the first beta of Safari 4, the company's latest version of their WebKit browser. While I generally love Safari on the Mac (my browser of choice on that side of the fence), I've never felt as comfortable with it on the Windows side of things. In any case, this latest beta has made a very bold move in the interface department, and I'm sad to say that it's not for the better. Let me explain where it went wrong for Apple.

First of all, it should be said that Safari 4 is still in beta, which means this IS the time for feedback.

There seems to be a lot of fuss about the new tab bar. But it does have the advantage of using up less vertical space.

It is not a coincidence that many Windows users still use a 4:3 aspect ratio for their screens. They are used (or condemned) to rows and rows of title bars, menu bars, window status bars and tool bars (cf. some MSWord screens that occupy more than 1/3 of the window height).

Those users obviously do not understand the benefit of saving space in the vertical direction. But wide screen owners do appreciate such a benefit.